Report: Efficiency Could Cut Growth in U.S. Energy Use in Half

November 28, 2007

An aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency in the United States over
the next 18 years could cut the nation's growth in energy use by 50%
or more, according to a new report. The report, "Vision for 2025:
Developing a Framework for Change," was prepared by the National
Action Plan for Energy Efficiency Leadership Group, which comprises
more than 60 leading organizations, with DOE and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting as facilitators. The
report sets a goal of achieving all cost-effective energy efficiency
improvements throughout the United States by 2025. If that goal is
achieved, the nation will spend $100 billion less for energy in 2025
than it would otherwise and will avoid emitting 500 million metric
tons of carbon dioxide per year. The nation will also achieve
$500 billion in net savings from its energy efficiency investments.

To achieve that goal, the report calls for placing a high priority on
cost-effective energy efficiency improvements, creating energy
efficiency incentives for utilities, and implementing the latest
technologies. The report recommends establishing policies, incentives,
delivery mechanisms, metrics, and utility billing systems that not
only encourage energy efficiency but also measure its effectiveness
and reward utilities for successful energy efficiency programs. The
report also emphasizes the sharing of information, both regionally and
nationally, and the use advanced communication technologies to keep
utilities in touch with their customers and aware of how their
customers are using energy. See the EPA press release (PDF 16 KB) and the full report (PDF 1.3 MB).
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The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency was developed in 2006
by the leadership group, which includes 30 electric and gas utilities,
17 state agencies, and 12 other organizations, with DOE and EPA as
facilitators. An additional 24 organizations are observing the work of
the leadership group. Since its launch in late July 2006, 120
organizations have made commitments to advance energy efficiency under
the National Action Plan. An EPA document released in conjunction with
the new report tallies all those commitments and the achievements to
date. The participating organizations include government agencies and
utility commissions in 26 states: Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New
Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,
Washington, and Wisconsin. A number of utilities, corporations, and
regional and national organizations are also participating. See the
EPA Web site and list of commitments and achievements (PDF 646 KB).